Some insects are almost as good as birds .......

Found an amazing ichneumon wasp, about 3 inches from end of antennae to end of ovipositor, in, of all places, Focus DIY. It was perched on an orange garden parasol! We (well Peter) liberated it to the outside world to the puzzlement of the Focus staff who thought it was a dragonfly. On returning home and looking it up in my trusty Collins "Insects" I find it was a Rhyssa Persuasoria also known as the Giant Ichneumon or Sabre Wasp. I assume it had hatched from one of the bits of wood in the shop, or been attracted by the wood in the stores. I presume it is now flying around Pembrokeshire looking for a pine wood and some Horntail larva to parasitise.

Rosemary